Benjamin Grumbles (Moderator) is president of the U.S. Water Alliance–an organization dedicated to uniting people and policies for water sustainability. Possessing one of the broadest and most diverse memberships in the country, the Alliance has public and private sector leaders focusing on quality and quantity water issues both above and below the surface. The Alliance also focuses on the connections of energy, land, food, and transportation as they relate to water, and the need for an integrated “one water” management philosophy. Ben has an extensive career in water and environmental policy. He has served as director of Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality, assistant administrator for water at U.S. EPA, and in the U.S. House of Representatives on both the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee as well as the Science Committee. Ben has a Masters Degree in environmental law from George Washington University, a J.D. from Emory University Law School, and a B.A. from Wake Forest University.


Michael H. Shapirois deputy assistant administrator, Office of Water, for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mike joined the Office of Water as the deputy assistant administrator in November 2002. Prior to that, he was the principal deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. He also has served as Director of the Office of Solid Waste, and deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, where he directed implementation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. From 1980 to 1989, Mike held a variety of positions in the Office of Pesticides and Toxic Substances, where one of his responsibilities was developing EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory. Mike has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Harvard. He has also taught in the public policy program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.


Paul L. Freedman is founder, president, and CEO of LimnoTech, providing water quality and water resource consulting since 1975. His areas of expertise include water quality and water resource modeling, pollutant fate and transport, watershed management, and water stewardship/sustainability. He has personal experience in hundreds of projects and corporate experience in thousands more in 49 states and in over two dozen countries around the globe, for clients including federal, state, and provincial governments and their agencies, major corporations, research institutes, and nonprofits. Examples of his other roles include past president Water Environment Federation, twiceover a panel expert for the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, chair of seven national conferences, steering committee member for the federal ACWI Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable and current nonfederal co-chair of the interagency workgroup on Water Resources Adaptation to Climate Change. Paul was an early pioneer and advocate on use of watershed management in water quality control programs, a key researcher in use and development of computer models in water quality protection, and an active leader in development and use of water stewardship and sustainability tools to manage and mitigate corporate water risks. He has over 250 presentations and publications to his credit and more than a dozen national awards.


Angela Licata is the deputy commissioner for sustainability for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP). She brings over twenty years of experience working with DEP to this role and has had the opportunity to work with all aspects of the operation. In her current position overseeing the Bureau of Environmental Planning and Analysis, Bureau of Environmental Compliance, and the Office of Green Infrastructure, Angela is responsible for more than 25 major initiatives of NYCDEP’s Strategy 2011-2014. Some of these critical initiatives include strategies for stormwater management for capturing the first inch of rainfall on 10 percent of impervious areas in combined sewer overflow watersheds over the next 20 years, accelerating meaningful regulatory reform, restoring wetlands habitat in and around Jamaica Bay, improving air quality and public health in New York City by controlling local sources of air pollution and revising and modernizing the New York city air code, and further enhancing the 2005 Noise Code. In addition, Angela oversees the city’s role in federal Superfund projects in Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal, and assists with guiding critical analysis for the Water for the Future Program. Angela has assisted in the launch of innovative projects, including the mitigation impact of DEP and city capital projects; developed an impressive list of studies, including rate studies and consumption tracking and demand projections; and advocated for a common-sense regulatory approach.


Jessica Grannis is a staff attorney and adjunct professor at the Harrison Institute for Public Law at Georgetown University Law Center where she works with state and local governments to help them adapt to sealevel rise in coordination with the Georgetown Climate Center. Her recent publications include an Adaptation Tool Kit for Sea Level Rise (2012); Coastal Retreat Measures, a book chapter on Coastal Retreat in the Law of Climate Change: U.S. and International Aspects (2012, with Peter Byrne); and Coastal Management in the Face of Rising Seas: Legal Strategies for Connecticut, Sea Grant Law and Policy Journal (2012, with Meagan Singer and Jena Shoaf). Prior to coming to the Harrison Institute, she was staff counsel for two California state agencies: the state Coastal Conservancy and the Ocean Protection Council. Prior to her work in state government, she worked as an associate for a civil litigation firm focusing on real property disputes. Jessica received her LL.M from Georgetown University Law Center in 2012, and her J.D. from University of California Hastings College of Law in 2005. She was admitted to the California Bar in 2005 and the District of Columbia Bar in 2011.


Rita P. Maguire is a founding member of Maguire & Pearce, PLLC, where she provides legal, consulting, and arbitration services related to the development, use, management, and conservation of water to clients throughout the west. In July 2012, Rita expanded her legal practice to include serving as general counsel for Curis Resources (Arizona) Inc., where she assumed full responsibility for leading the company’s permitting and governmental affairs activities related to its in-situ copper recovery project. She served as Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources from1993 through 2001. During her tenure, she represented the state’s interests in the Colorado River Basin, was a key figure in the development of the Arizona Water Bank Authority, an interstate storage and recovery program in the Lower Colorado River Basin, and played a central role in the largest Indian water rights settlement in U.S. history. Rita also supervised the implementation of the Assured Water Supply Rules, the state’s recharge and recovery statutes, and adoption of the Third Management Plan. In August 2012, she was appointed as a member of the National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board, a provider of independent, objective scientific and technical advice to the National Academy of Sciences. As a recognized expert on western water policy, she has spoken and written extensively on the subject, and is a frequent contributor to editorial pages and industry publications. Rita holds three degrees from Arizona State University: a Juris Doctorate, a Master of Business Administration, and a Bachelor of Science.